“Our study demonstrates the high sensitivity of [gallium Ga-68 dotatate] in the localization of [ectopic Cushing’s syndrome], for both occult primary tumors and metastatic lesions,” the researchers wrote. “Importantly, the use of [gallium Ga-68 dotatate] impacted clinical management in 64% of patients with [ectopic Cushing’s syndrome] overall.” The researche […]

The 11th annual Pituitary Day will take place on October 19, 2019 Patients living with pituitary disorders can hear lectures from our pituitary specialists, see movies of pituitary surgeries and hear from other patients about their experience living with pituitary disease and undergoing surgery.

Cynthia is from Ruckersville, VA. She is testing for Cushing's due to many symptoms. tested for CD because after exhaustive research on AVN (Avascular Necrosis) related to other diseases. I have four known areas of AVN & after seeing the symptoms of CD, I realized may have this. I also have numerous other diseases Lupus, Sojgrens, Hypothyroid, High […]

Today is the Thirteenth Anniversary of my kidney cancer surgery. These thirteen years have been bonus years for me. For my cancer stage, the 5-year survival rate was 81% and I’ve made it more than twice that long – so far.

Kathy was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor in 1991. At the time the only symptom she was aware of was a severe headache. She had a transsphenoidal resection followed by radiation therapy for 23 days. They said they could not remove all of the tumor.

Sadly, we lost another Cushing’s patient on Friday, May 9, 2014. Melinda was a member of the Cushing’s Help message boards since Jun 24, 2007. She was only 25 and left behind a young son and many loving family members.

He died of a presumed heart attack. September 19, 2015 he said "'I was diagnosed hypertensive way back when I was 20. The condition remained for years, and became more acute with my cushings pit tumor. I still have high blood pressure, partially teated with three meds. I'll have to consult my doc and see if this may also be an issue."

'My name is Caroline and I dont post often but have met a few of you guys and read the board regularly, it has definitely been a godsend to cushies everywhere. The reason I am writing tonight is I have just received devastating information about a dear friend of mine, and a woman some of you may have met during testing. Her name is Kathryn Miller and sh […]

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Patients with subclinical hypercortisolism, i.e., without symptoms of cortisol overproduction, and adrenal incidentalomas recover their hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function after surgery faster than those with Cushing’s syndrome (CS), according to a study.

Moreover, the researchers found that an HPA function analysis conducted immediately after the surgical removal of adrenal incidentalomas — adrenal tumors discovered by chance in imaging tests — could identify patients in need of glucocorticoid replacement before discharge.

Using this approach, they found that most subclinical patients did not require treatment with hydrocortisone, a glucocorticoid taken to compensate for low levels of cortisol in the body, after surgery.

The HPA axis is the body’s central stress response system. The hypothalamus releases corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) that acts on the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), leading the adrenal gland to produce cortisol.

As the body’s defense mechanism to avoid excessive cortisol secretion, high cortisol levels alert the hypothalamus to stop producing CRH and the pituitary gland to stop making ACTH.

Therefore, in diseases associated with chronically elevated cortisol levels, such as Cushing’s syndrome and adrenal incidentalomas, there’s suppression of the HPA axis.

After an adrenalectomy, which is the surgical removal of one or both adrenal glands, patients often have low cortisol levels (hypocortisolism) and require glucocorticoid replacement therapy.

“Most studies addressing the peri-operative management of patients with adrenal hypercortisolism have reported that irrespective of how mild the hypercortisolism was, such patients were given glucocorticoids before, during and after adrenalectomy,” the researchers wrote.

Evidence also shows that, after surgery, glucocorticoid therapy is administered for months before attempting to test for recovery of HPA function.

For the past 30 years, researchers at the University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center have withheld glucocorticoid therapy in the postoperative management of patients with ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas until there’s proof of hypocortisolism.

“The approach offered us the opportunity to examine peri-operative hormonal alterations and demonstrate their importance in predicting need for replacement therapy, as well as future recurrences,” they said.

In this prospective observational study, the investigators extended their approach to patients with subclinical hypercortisolism.

“The primary goal of the study was to examine rapid alteration in HPA function in patients with presumably suppressed axis and appreciate the modulating impact of surgical stress in that setting,” they wrote. Collected data was used to decide whether to start glucocorticoid therapy.

The analysis included 14 patients with Cushing’s syndrome and 19 individuals with subclinical hypercortisolism and an adrenal incidentaloma. All participants had undergone surgical removal of a cortisol-secreting adrenal tumor.

“None of the patients received exogenous glucocorticoids during the year preceding their evaluation nor were they taking medications or had other illnesses that could inﬂuence HPA function or serum cortisol measurements,” the researchers noted.

Glucocorticoid therapy was not administered before or during surgery.

To evaluate HPA function, the clinical team took blood samples before and at one, two, four, six, and eight hours after the adrenalectomy to determine levels of plasma ACTH, serum cortisol, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) — a hormone produced by the adrenal glands.

Pre-surgery assessment of both groups showed that patients with an incidentaloma plus subclinical hypercortisolism had larger adrenal masses, higher ACTH, and DHEA-S levels, but less serum cortisol after adrenal function suppression testing with dexamethasone.

Dexamethasone is a man-made version of cortisol that, in a normal setting, makes the body produce less cortisol. But in patients with a suppressed HPA axis, cortisol levels remain high.

After the adrenalectomy, the ACTH concentrations in both groups of patients increased. This was found to be negatively correlated with pre-operative dexamethasone-suppressed cortisol levels.

Investigators reported that “serum DHEA-S levels in patients with Cushing’s syndrome declined further after adrenalectomy and were undetectable by the 8th postoperative hour,” while incidentaloma patients’ DHEA-S concentrations remained unchanged for the eight-hour postoperative period.

Eight hours after surgery, all Cushing’s syndrome patients had serum cortisol levels of less than 2 ug/dL, indicating suppressed HPA function. As a result, all of these patients required glucocorticoid therapy for several months to make up for HPA axis suppression.

“The decline in serum cortisol levels was slower and less steep [in the incidentaloma group] when compared to that observed in patients with Cushing’s syndrome. At the 6th–8th postoperative hours only 5/19 patients [26%] with subclinical hypercortisolism had serum cortisol levels at ≤3ug/dL and these 5 were started on hydrocortisone therapy,” the researchers wrote.

Replacement therapy in the subclinical hypercortisolism group was continued for up to four weeks.

Results suggest that patients with an incidentaloma plus subclinical hypercortisolism did not have an entirely suppressed HPA axis, as they were able to recover its function much faster than the CS group after surgical stress.

Guido Di Dalmazi and colleagues1 reported that in patients with adrenal incidentalomas and either stable mild hypercortisolism or worsening of cortisol hypersecretion, all-cause and cardiovascular disease-specific mortality was higher compared with in those with adrenal incidentalomas that did not secrete cortisol, after a mean follow-up of 7·5 years. Moreover, cortisol concentrations measured after dexamethasone-suppression test were associated with all-cause mortality independent of the presence of traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors.

Subclinical Cushing’s syndrome is the most common hormonal abnormality in patients with adrenal incidentalomas (prevalence 1—29%).2 The proportion of adrenal incidentalomas that progress to subclinical Cushing’s syndrome is low (1·7%) and most are lesions of 3 cm or larger.2 Progression to overt Cushing’s syndrome is controversial (because both spontaneous normalisation of hypersecretion and stable disease have been reported during follow-up) and spontaneous normalisation of hypersecretion has been reported in 50% of cases.2 Results of the study by Di Dalmazi and co-workers1 are important because they show, for the first time, that patients with subclinical Cushing’s syndrome are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality (mainly attributable to cardiovascular disease). The association of cortisol with all-cause mortality might also be attributable to its potential role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome.3

Findings of previous studies have shown an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with subclinical Cushing’s syndrome, but data for optimum management are conflicting. Some criteria—such as large (>4—6 cm) adrenal incidentalomas, features suggestive of malignancy (eg, heterogeneity, irregular shape, calcification or necrosis, invasion to adjacent tissues), or potentially lethal hormonal hypersecretion (ie, pheochromocytomas)—support the need for adrenalectomy. However, universal surgical management of patients with subclinical Cushing’s syndrome has not been accepted.2, 4 Uncertainty about the most effective management strategy for subclinical Cushing’s syndrome is attributable to the variable definitions used, and the small sample size and retrospective nature of most studies.4 Only one prospective study has been published so far showing that laparoscopic adrenalectomy is more beneficial than is conservative management for the normalisation or improvement of cardiovascular disease risk factors, such as diabetes, dyslipidaemia, hypertension, and obesity.5

Prospective studies and registries are needed to document the effect of different approaches on the incidence of cardiovascular disease events and mortality in patients with adrenal incidentalomas and subclinical Cushing’s syndrome. Until then, individualised treatment seems prudent. Surgical management of subclinical Cushing’s syndrome can be suggested in young patients (age <50 years) and in those with cardiovascular disease risk factors or bone disease associated with hypercortisolism that are of recent onset, difficult to control with drugs, or show progression over time.4

Another message from Di Dalmazi’s study1 is that hormonal deterioration might develop even after 4—5 years, which most studies reported as a reasonable and safe follow-up.2 This possibility should be kept in mind for the management of patients with adrenal incidentalomas, especially if clinical signs of Cushing’s syndrome develop or if cardiovascular disease risk factors become evident or increase in severity (ie, hormonal hypersecretion).

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Management of subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (SCS) remains controversial; it is not possible to predict which patients would benefit from adrenalectomy. In the present study we aimed to evaluate the role of adrenocortical scintigraphy (ACS) in the management of patients with SCS.

RESULTS:

Overall 25 patients (15 in the S-group and 10 in the M-group) had concordant unilateral uptake at ACS (ACS+). In the S-group, the mean follow-up duration was 30.9 ± 16.1 months and, irrespective of the presence of hormonal diagnosis of SCS, in patients who were ACS+ adrenalectomy resulted in a significant increase in HDL cholesterol and decreases in body mass index, glycemia, and blood pressure (BP). One patient reduced antihypertensive medication and three others were able to discontinue it altogether. Prolonged postoperative hypoadrenalism (PH) occurred in 14 patients in the S-group. The overall accuracy in predicting PH was 93.7 % for ACS and 68.7 % for laboratory findings. In the M-group, the mean follow-up duration was 31.5 ± 26.3 months and no patient developed overt Cushing’s syndrome, although ACS+ patients experienced a worsening in glycemia and diastolic BP.

CONCLUSIONS:

Adrenal scintigraphy seems the most accurate diagnostic test for SCS. It is able to predict the metabolic outcome and the occurrence of PH, identifying the patients who could benefit from adrenalectomy irrespective of hormonal diagnosis.